N minus 1

That's right, in less than 24 hours it'll be N-Day, Narnia Day, The Beginning of A (Hopefully) Very Good Series Of Films. To be precise, 7. I really hope Disney and co. put out all of them. The BBC only did four, supposedly because producing The Last Battle would be "too Christian". Oh well. Like some reviewers say, if you're putting an obvious analogy on the big screen, better go all the way.

If you saw the BBC' mini-series, listen to the main theme. In my mind, much more evocative than any of the Lord Of The Rings themes.

I spent 9 days in Barcelona last month. I'll post pictures soon. It was a lot of fun: I visited my grandparents on my dad's side (he's their only son/offspring, so that side of the family is pretty small), and all the family on my mom's side (she's the second of 9, and I'm the first of ~25 cousins). It was almost like business: every day was busy (in a good way). Let's see: got there on Sunday, took a nap, ate lots of prosciutto and bread and cheese, watched a lot of soccer, as a matter of fact I drooled over Barcelona's history-defining 0-3 win against Real Madrid (they were playing while I was flying to Spain, which was unfortunate, but that Sunday all the spanish newspapers featured 10+ pages covering the game - yes, soccer IS religion, Kuyper had it waaaaay wrong). Monday: ate lots of prosciutto for lunch and supper, watched soccer again, went to the stadium to purchase tickets for Tuesday and Sunday night games, coordinated family visits on the phone. Tuesday: ate lots of prosciutto for breakfast, went to the stadium at around noon to buy a scarf (note: do not wear a Barcelona-colors scarf whilst in Barcelona, unless you're going to a game. It makes you look stupid), ate really tasty food here with grandparents, went to the stadium. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! Words cannot explain the feeling. It was fabulous. I ate my prosciutto-and-baguette-and-tomato-and-olive-oil sandwich (grandma made it), drank beer, and saw the best soccer team in the world (according to all major sports newspapers worldwide). The stadium wasn't full, only 67.000 people, but it felt like it.
Wednesday: prosciutto and cafe-au-lait for breakfast, lunch with Edmundo, one of my uncles. He's a jeweller with indian features and a long pony tail, and recently married Dolores, a gypsy woman from Andalucia. Went to Carlos' place for supper, he's another uncle, married and with 5 kids, living in an apartment smaller than a Southview one. Also there were Mayer and Febe, Mayer's the third cousin, Edmundo's oldest, 23 (I think), Febe's his lovely wife of 11 months, he paints buildings hanging on the outside, no scaffolding, sitting on a harness. Crazy. She's a secretary for this Scientific Magazine publishing house. I don't remember all the details. Thursday morning I went to Cerdanyola, a Barcelona suburb, to Gina and Paco's place. Gina, the oldest (my mother is next) is a classical piano professor at the conservatory, and Paco is a postman with chronic something-in-his-arm so he's not working right now, on worker's comp. or the spanish equivalent. Besides their 2 girls (actually 3, but Rebeca is studying at Bob Jones - yes, the devil's lair) Elisabet and Yani, Pablo and Noelia were also there. Pablo finished the classical guitar career (all seven years) a while ago, and is now a minister (why????? gosh I would've stayed with the guitar). He's still quite amazing. Went back to Barcelona that night, and on Friday morning ate more prosciutto and brie and beer, went out to another restaurant with my grandparents (El Nou Celler, can't find the website), and talked about the civil war, Franco (that week Spain was commemorating 30 years since his death, which nicely coincided with Real Madrid's 0-3 defeat by a catalan team - during Franco's day that would have been impossible, since he made sure the referees wouldn't let any team beat Madrid), and soccer.
Friday night I went to see Ceci and Juanjo: Ceci's one of the younger sisters in my mom's family, and she teaches english in a language school, Juanjo works as a systems administrator (yuuuuk) and is finishing his computer science studies. Boy was that a depressing night! Even though they've got good jobs, good careers, a nice apartment, loving family-members, and good health, Juanjo basically hates his life because Spain is such a horrible place to live, and he wants to move here. Gosh I'll make sure not to hang out with them too much, they're bound to make anyone depressed. Well it's not Ceci's fault, she's content, but I think some of his bitterness has rubbed off on her. Unfortunate really. Make the best with what you've got, I say. I think they should fly to Peru and live there for a year, see what they say then.
Saturday we went to my grandparents' summer house in Santa Oliva, lunch in a nice beachside restaurant, talked about the Spanish civil war, Franco's death, what they did the day his death was announced (bottle of champagne), my dad's birth, their retirement, etc. Sunday morning went to the local church where we were 7. Including my grandparents and I. It's true, being a missionary in Spain is, oh, very hard. Kind of over before you start it, really.
Went to another nice restaurant for lunch, where I had tasty paella and "Bull's Blood" red wine. And to the stadium again that night, a different seat, but still a lot of fun. I am so glad I could see Barcelona play. The following morning my plane took off at 7am. And now I am here.

If you felt that food and soccer were the main themes during my visit, you'd be right: spaniards quit working at 2pm and resume at 5pm. OF COURSE you need 3 hours for lunch.

But I was glad to be back: I love my job, I love this area, I love the jazz scene. I just wish I could find a church with no P&W. Can't stand it. I've tried. It makes me laugh and cringe at the same time, which is probably not good since some people are praising God while I mock them. That's why I always make sure I'm half an hour late. Maybe I should try the Lutheran one, but the sermon is so short, fifteen minutes! I'm left wanting. Where's Herm when you need him?

And tomorrow I don't know which to see first: Narnia or Syriana. Any leftist movie that tickles the White House in all the wrong places (and doesn't resort to sensationalism a la Michael Moore) is bound to be an interesting watch. Have you people seen All The President's Men? or Wag The Dog?

I had lots of topics to discuss, like Maoist terrorist groups and lucid dreaming and Saddam (or why I'd like to slap him, not hit, slap), but that'll have to wait. It seems my writing inspiration comes in profound bursts, like a healthy case of diarrhea: swooooooooosh!